<p>First of all, from what I've seen, it seems that the only time sports will really make you stand out for a top college is if you are nationally ranked and are a viable candidate for recruitment. However, the rest of the kids in my "smart crowd," i.e. top 5% thinks that Crew (Rowing) will get you into top colleges regardless of if you are a recruit. They say it'll make up for the fact that someone has higher grades than you, which I don't really believe is true. I'm currently doing three sports, and will probably only be varsity (not recruit-quality) for 2 or so years in each. Thus, I'm not like an amazing freshman who can play varsity football or some varsity tennis player who is the best in the state. I'm just somewhat above average, but not amazing.
But for some reason, all the other "high-achieving scholars" in my grade feel that being on Varsity crew, (not even rowing for a national or even state team) and just rowing in high school and being above average will get you into a better college regardless of whether or not you are being recruited. Is this true? Because I definitely know one boy who constantly states that he will not quit crew, because "he has to do crew, he HAS to," with the intentions of going to a top university. Thoughts?</p>
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<p>No. It’s not.</p>
<p>Thank f-cking god. I feel like the only sane intellectual in my grade, because I chose to do a sport that I loved as opposed to one that colleges would. (supposedly)</p>
<p>Rebumps this thread… before it falls into the abyss of CC obscurity.</p>
<p>Here’s what I think…all of the Ivies (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc) are hyper-intensive about their Crew teams. It’s one of the oldest sports around, and because of its relative obscurity, not as many people do it as, say, football or soccer. </p>
<p>So if you’re GOOD (and I stress this) at Crew, then it will help you. But probably only at the very top tier schools because of their tradition, and it won’t be enough to actually get you in- maybe just the factor that pushes you past another applicant of about equal strength. I also know that if you’re a girl it’s easier to get recruited because they need more girls…</p>
<p>That said though, it’s admirable and smart that you chose to do the sports you love. If you’ve enjoyed/been successful/been dedicated to them, adcoms will see that. And it will definitely help you in the process</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful response, but as I mentioned, they aren’t of caliber to be recruited… so how would it help them then?</p>
<p>If they are not good enough to be recruited, then crew is not likely anymore “valuable” than any other EC in terms of admissions.</p>
<p>While I do not believe crew helps you get into a specific college, DD and DS have one fomer HS classmate who played junior tennis until sophomore year of high school. She was a VG to excellent student ( I would not say Ivey level but very capable). </p>
<p>She excelled at Crew and coupled with her GPA, etc. obtained scholarship $ and is now rowing for UNC-CH. That accomplishment in the world of tennis would have taken for more years in the making.</p>
<p>Okay. Well if “rowing” got her into UNC, and not say… Princeton, then I’m fine with that. I wouldn’t want to go to UNC anyways.</p>
<p>I think it probably has more to do with timing than the actual sport itself. If the year before they’ve just graduated a large portion of their crew team, they will probably look to admit more kids for crew. If the year before they just admitted a bunch of strong kids for crew, it may not be a good year for one to be a rower.</p>
<p>I know of kids who have gotten into Princeton and other great colleges through crew. I think the buzz about crew is that it’s easier to become recruitable quickly if you are tall, strong and have good endurance - even if you start off building that endurance and strength in another sport. So yeah, there are lots of kids who give it a try for the first time in high school, and make it work to their advantage in college admission. Apparently, getting to important regional tournaments and ideally, nationals, is an essential piece. But unless your friend is recruitable (and I’m not sure how you would know he’s not), then it will be seen as an EC just like the sports you are doing.</p>
<p>how about if you are a coxswain?</p>
<p>If you are not recruited, it won’t help squat. If you are recruited, it will help A LOT. If you’re good but choose not to participate in college or are not recruited then it will only minimally help.</p>
<p>Crew will only help IF you have a passion for it and an amazing ERG score…to with your amazing resume, GPA, SATs etc…</p>
<p>As a girl–crew offers some good $ for rowing programs at some school…guys don’t get squat because its not a NCAA sport for the men…</p>
<p>Crew takes yr round commitment–and 6 days a week to be good–</p>
<p>Only do a sport IF you enjoy it…</p>
<p>Also–the only way to know if your friends are recruitable is to look at national times…if they are medalling at regional regattas etc…and if they go to states and nationals…</p>
<p>a friend’s daughter was recruited this fall–she had pared it down to 4 schools, 2 ivies and 2 LAC…all great schools–and she is a very dedicated rower and yes she got $ to pay for school</p>
<p>but WHY do you care if they are recruitable or not—it should be about whether its a sport you want to try …</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>Your friends are wrong. No sport matters beyond being a nice EC and showing leadership if you’re the captain unless you are recruited.</p>
<p>Crew helps you get into college if the school in question is located on an island, in the middle of a moat or otherwise within the confines of some relatively large body of water.</p>
<p>Crew DOES help - but it’s not terribly significant. </p>
<p>I say this because it shows Adcom your personality, helps you “pop” off of the page. Rowing reflects endurance, extreme dedication, and a “take no prisoners” mentality. Being a coxswain shows fabulous leadership, multi-tasking, and confidence. Crew is also less common than say soccer… so it is unique. </p>
<p>In response to an earlier post about how it is easy to be recruited to college for rowing if you are tall, strong, etc. It’s NOT easy to be recruited for crew. Others say that its easier than soccer or bball - and it very well might be. But the basis of most of these ideas come from the fact that less people row. This is because it’s a very expensive sport, but it’s also very very very difficult. The reason less people try to get recruited is because rowers cut out the slower and less tough quickly. Let me tell you, it wouldn’t be easy to get through sprint season if you didn’t give 100 percent of yourself. Those that row only to add as an EC don’t make the higher boats. You think it’s easy? Go ahead, pull a 2k.</p>
<p>But really, you can’t get recruited unless you ADORE the sport… but thats easy with crew :)</p>
<p>Crew helps A LOT, especially if you are a girl— but also for boys. There are about 4 times as many college rowers as high school rowers, so crew coaches will recruit volleyball players, swimmers, x-country runners, cyclists … This holds true for the ivies, Stanford, Duke, and top Div I schools (U Michigan, Berkeley, UVA, UCLA, Notre Dame). It’s also true for top Div III colleges, e.g. Williams.
With good erg scores people who otherwise would not stand a chance will get officially recruited and/or get a major boost in their admission.</p>
<p>YES! It can!</p>
<p>Older sister is a coxswain for one of the best men’s rowing teams in the country. Most schools can’t give that much help to coxswains but if you’re a rower you can sometimes get amazing amounts of help in your application process. Providing you have the proper erg scores and/or some flashy finishes at Head of the Charles or some other top regatta… </p>
<p>I have a family friend who entered Harvard with something like a 3.6 high school GPA and a decent SAT because the coach wanted them that badly.</p>
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3.5 UW from my school, maybe 1 honors course, probably wouldn’t be in top 25% in class if we ranked…Going to an Ivy/turned down several other Ivies as a crew recruit. I’m not sure if he’s even that good; certainly not All-American or anything.</p>
<p>The school he’s going to routinely turns down the top echelon of unhooked students from my school, remarkable as they usually are.</p>